El Pique Taco Truck - Video

The Chef is a trickster -- about to scare you up a frightening tasty taco review on this Halloween day - made with shocking and chilling cuts of meat! My final video on moveable feasts for the month of October features a taco truck from the "old school".

Pile on the salsa roja on tacos served at Highland Park's El Pique Taco Truck -- their fiendishly fiery salsa can raise the dead! Let your little ghouls and goblins have their bag of candy; this Chef prefers to feast on a platter of Tacos de Cabeza (head), Tacos de Lengua (tongue), and let's not forget the slow cooked Tacos de Buche (intestines)! The chunks of lengua are a little chewy, the buche is light and delicate and the cabeza meat is fall-off-the-forehead tender.

Walking down York Boulevard on Halloween Day in this East L.A. community, I walk past a sidewalk Day of the Dead altar loaded down with skull candles, fruit, flowers, plates of food and airline bottles of tequila. But the altar of epicurean delights known as El Pique Taco Truck is a block away, at the corner of Avenue 53 next to a car wash, and The 99 Cent Chef genuflects at the ordering window.

Have you ever tried tongue or head? Don't be a scared-y cat! Cabeza is surprisingly tender -- meat scraped from a cow's skull, and lengua is gamy but tasty. Of the two, tongue takes some getting used to. I still recoil from the first spongy bite, but quickly settle in and enjoy -- one must face their dining demons head-on!

The Chef first heard about El Pique Taco Truck from reading Jonathan Gold's column in The LA Weekly and decided to finally try it. This Chef has been around the block a few times taco truck dining, so, while not disappointed, I have had as good. The carnitas & carne asada are fine, while the al pastor (bbq pork) takes getting used to. I like the pork charred and crunchy; here it is damp and saucy -- different for sure, but an interesting variation. I prefer mine shaved off a fiery spit and crispy. The buche (intestine) is not deep-fried like I am used to; again, I miss the chewiness. Sorry Jonathan, your praise is misdirected -- as right down the street, on Eagle Rock Boulevard, is Rambo Taco Truck, which prepares al pastor and buche my favorite way (see my short video for info by clicking here) -- to each his own.

El Pique Taco Truck - Video

Play it here. The video runs 2 minutes.

The locals are lucky to have El Pique. The tacos are tasty, and garnished with slices of radish and wedges of lime. I would stop there any time I was in the hood.

Click here for a map. Hours are all day and late into the evening.
The address is 5300 York Boulevard in Highland Park, CA 90042.
Tacos are $1.25 including tax. You can ask for salsa toppings mild or hot.

Click here to embed or view video on youtube.

Border Grill Truck - Video Review

Someone's in the kitchen with Mary Sue Milliken, and that someone is The 99 Cent Chef ! It's not every day this Chef get's to literally rub elbows with one half of the "Too Hot Tamales," but when you're invited to film with Mary Sue and her three chefs, that's the way we roll (in their shiny new Border Grill Truck). It was a real treat to hang out with everyone in this cool taco truck -- it is one well-oiled operation.

This month The 99 Cent Chef steps out of the kitchen then pulls out all the f-stops for a month-long film foray series introducing his readers to L.A.'s bursting lunch truck renaissance. Here's a way to taste gourmet-level street food for a price that even the chintzy chef and his thrifty readers can appreciate.

Future video posts include the truck that is spearheading it all, Kogi Korean BBQ Truck, newcomer Nom Nom Truck (featuring Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches) and a couple of stops at some favorite old-school taco trucks and food carts (in MacArthur Park).

The Border Grill Truck puts a modern and deliciously inspired spin on Mexican taco truck fare -- for an affordable price. I made a beeline to a Yucatan Pork Taco.

The corn tortilla tasted handmade with a soft light texture, and the chunks of braised orange-hued achiote pork are pungent with spice. I especially enjoyed the cool taco slaw topping of red pickled onion with jicama and orange.

How does it compare to a typical taco truck? Classic crunchy deep fried carnitas tacos are a true pleasure and my favorite every time, but Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Fineger's take on the taco are scrumptiously welcomed.

Other tacos at the Border Grill truck are made with chicken and carne asada, and two veggie ones feature avocado or roasted potato. The truck parks near where I'm working lately, so return visits are planned; I have my eye on Peruvian Ceviche served in a hard shell corn tortilla cone next.

I've been dining on Susan and Mary Sue's fine, tasty fare since the days of their original restaurant on Melrose Avenue, and I always look forward to killer margaritas and mojitos with imaginative appetizers during Happy Hours at their current restaurants including: Cuidad downtown, The Border Grill in Santa Monica and Street (from Susan Feniger) in Hollywood.

Border Grill Truck - Video

Play it here. The video runs 3 minutes, 12 seconds.

The Border Grill Truck menu is shown below and online here, and visit the website for latest menu and prices. Taco prices are $2-$3. Quesadillas and Peruvian Cevechi are $5. On the website, the ingredient list includes: organic rice, beans, coffee and sustainable seafood.

Keep your eye on Twitter to see when they're in your neighborhood. Hours vary but skew 10am -6pm. and later on Friday and Saturday (best to follow on Twitter - click here).

Coming up, join The Chef as he prowls through the noir nighttime neon-washed streets of Koreatown for a Short Rib Taco from Kogi BBQ Truck, and then on sun-splashed asphalt under Santa Monica palm trees, as he hunkers down to chew a crunchy- crusted Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwich from Nom Nom Truck.

With The 99 Cent Chef as your culinary tour guide, you will see parts of L.A. not in any guide books! Zagat, forget about it - this is street food at its finest! So do keep checking back. Hey, I even throw in a couple of 99 cent taco truck recipes!

99 Thanks to the patrons and chefs of the Border Grill Truck: Dino, Vanessa, Anthony and Mary Sue.

Click here to embed or view video on youtube.

Taco Trucks & Carne Asada Is Not A Crime - 2 Video Shorts

When in the Valley at Pick Your Part Auto Salvage looking for an odometer for his 1965 Dodge Polara Convertible, the Chef begins and ends his search with a ceviche tostada from the taco truck parked at the entrance; on the way home after a Japanese Outlaw Masters double feature at the Hollywood Egyptian Theatre, he pulls over to a La Brea Avenue taco truck for midnight charred al pastor tacos; for a work time lunch it is a short walk to the taco truck around the corner for a crunchy pork carnitas burrito. For cheap and tasty, LA taco trucks are at the top of the Chef's fast food chain.


To go with your carnitas taco, swig a medio litro of "Mexican Coke" from this 99c only Store -- one for 59 cents and made with cane sugar. Why Mexican Coke? To quote food importer Hamilton "Ham" Rousseau of Ifs Ands & Butts : "High-fructose corn syrup (used in American Coke) is actually sweeter but it leaves a film in the mouth, that film automatically diminishes your palate, blocking the sweetness. Sugar cane sucrose is cleaner and crisper. So if you are used to Coke made with corn syrup, the difference is striking."




This video of The 99 Cent Chef's favorite LA Taco Truck mural is a mindbending meld of tacos and a Hollywood action hero -- located
at about 4342 Eagle Rock Boulevard (near York Blvd.) after 5pm.

Taco Truck Video

Play it here. The video runs 1 minute 7 seconds.

It is now the law; taco trucks have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail, in unincorporated parts of LA

(about 65% of the County.) Go to the website save our taco trucks.org and find out ways to battle this restrictive ordinance.

The Chef is Left of Left and votes with his stomach; so he went 2 evenings ago to "Taco Libre," a taco truck rally in East LA and to show his support. The 99 Cent Chef dined on tacos al pastor -- here is a video of the event.

Taco Libre Video

Play it here. The video runs 2 minutes.